Independent Investigative Journalism and Commentary from New Orleans, LA

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Sympathy for the Devil

Anonymous said...

I don't think most on here realize just how desparate the accused are right nnow. The vast majority are in dire financial straits and some have even experienced maritial & family problems as a result of the lawsuit & federal investigations.

The number of unindicted co-conspirators who are cooperating with the government are pretty large at this point. The early birds have gotten their worm and the rest are left to dangle in the water waiting for the shark to gobble them up without remorse.

A little mixed metaphor there but I love that...actually more of a metaphor mash-up.

The shark reference is funny though. When Meffert stepped down from the CTO position, City Business ran a fluffy, sycophantic profile on him. When asked what he would do next he replied, “A shark can’t breathe unless it’s moving. There’s a part of me like that. I’m going to have to be doing something or I’ll go nuts,”

Which reminds me of a quote from Qui-Gon Jim in Star Wars I, "...Always a bigger fish."

I do feel sorry for family members though...especially children who may have to watch their parent carted off to jail.

6 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Life is all about cause and effect, every action causes an equal and opposite reaction, what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger, etc. These aren't just generalizations or vague mantras to focus on during a motivational seminar your boss sent you to, it's life and I was brought up believing in it, because the school of hard knocks has left many impressions on this thick noggin'.

I'm sorry, I don't feel for these people at all, not even the kids. My life has always been in the fast lane for Karma, probably because I'm too stupid to realize it if it takes its time.

Kids are tough and will either learn from their parents mistakes or be destined to repeat them, either way life has given them an up close and personal example of what not to do. Our society has gotten fat, lazy and weak due to excuses being acceptable (there is always a reason its not your fault) and "everybody gets a trophy" attitude.

There needs to be more examples like this, that character is about what a person does when you think people aren't looking. It's about doing the difficult, not taking shortcuts, doing it right the first time, and calling people out when they make mistakes but try to help that person not make them again.

Warren Buffett talked about the board of directors of Bear Stearns, each of these guys lost untold millions, their status, embarrassed their families and for what so they could have another 4 million in the bank a year? They didn't need it, they didn't really notice it, so why did they risk it?

Because they never thought of the consequences, only the short term gain. Don't feel sorry for these people only feel sorry for the people that didn't learn from the mistakes of Meffert, Nagin, St. Pierre, etc.

I always tell the team I manage, we don't have time and can't afford to make all the same mistakes everyone else does, you have to observe other people closely and modify accordingly. If you can persistently do that in life, you will advance much further than most others, because they won't.

Meffert left behind a $400,000 salary in the private sector for a $150,000 city salary that never increasedJesus, I'm so sick of all the b.s. about the money he gave up to work for the city. Was anybody in the local media even aware of the collapse of the tech bubble? He had a couple of startups in the 90's when anybody with a tech degree and the barest outline of a business plan could get capital, then he got into the public sector when private capital dried up for most companies. I'm not saying that they should have seen through all of Meffert's bullshit, but they should have at least known that the days of easy money in the tech field were over.

yeah that is the running joke of the whole goddamn drama....he was never...NEVER....successful in the .com boom. The CTO position was a goddamn lifesaver for him and the Imagine crew. They spun it to look like he was doin' us a favor by stepping down from the private sector to save our city and bring it into the digital age. What a fucking joke.

Lets get one thing straight every single "Early Bird" whose is chirping because they are guilty not because they are innocent bystanders. There isn't a person involved in any of these criminal enterprises who is innocent except the individuals who went to the Feds first and tipped them off as to what was going on. Just because an "adult male duck" got divorced doesn't make him an innocent party especially when he was just as much involved in this crap as the rest of them.

Yes feel sorry for the innocent families who didn't know what their husbands & wives were involved in but don't feel sorry for the L.M's of the world whose husband cheated on her every night. Women like her also enjoyed the status of her husband and the money he threw at her to shut her up while he enjoyed every hooker & stripper on Downman Road.

Character is defined by those who don't stand for their names to be thrown in the garbage can for generations.